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Active Storage has possible arbitrary file read and remote code execution in Active Storage variant processing

Critical severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 29, 2026 in rails/rails • Updated Jul 30, 2026

Package

bundler activestorage (RubyGems)

Affected versions

< 7.2.3.2
>= 8.0.0.beta1, < 8.0.5.1
>= 8.1.0.beta1, < 8.1.3.1

Patched versions

7.2.3.2
8.0.5.1
8.1.3.1

Description

Impact

In its default configuration, a Rails application that displays image variants may allow an
unauthenticated attacker to read arbitrary files from the server, including the process environment.
That environment typically holds secret_key_base and often credentials for external systems, which
may in turn allow escalation to remote code execution or lateral movement to those systems.

Details

libvips reads and writes file formats through "loaders" and "savers" (or more generally
"operations"), many of which are backed by third-party libraries. It marks some of these operations
as "unfuzzed", meaning they are unsafe for untrusted content, and several handle formats unrelated
to web images. Active Storage did not disable the unfuzzed operations, so an attacker who can upload
a crafted file and cause a variant to be generated from it may be able to invoke one.

We are aware of a mechanism by which an attacker, by uploading a crafted file, is able to cause
disclosure of the contents of arbitrary files accessible on the filesystem of the targeted
application. One specific attack chain has been reported to us (see "Disclosure" below), but we do
not assume it is the only one that exists.

Affected applications

An application is affected if it meets all of these requirements:

  • Uses libvips for Active Storage image processing. This is config.active_storage.variant_processor = :vips,
    which load_defaults 7.0 set and no later default has changed.
  • Allows image uploads from untrusted users.

Generating variants is not a separate requirement.

Mitigation

  • Upgrade to a fixed version of activestorage.
  • The minimum version of libvips must be upgraded to >= 8.13.
  • Change secret_key_base and change any secrets accessible in the application environment (see "Expire and change secrets" below)

Earlier versions of libvips (< 8.13) cannot disable unfuzzed operations at all, and Active Storage
will raise an exception during boot in such an unsecurable environment.

Expire and change secrets

Upgrading closes the vulnerability but does not undo an exfiltrated secret if that already
occurred. An affected application should treat every secret readable by the application process as
potentially exposed and change it, including:

  • secret_key_base
  • The master key, whether stored in config/master.key or supplied as RAILS_MASTER_KEY, along
    with everything in config/credentials.yml.enc that it decrypts
  • Credentials for the Active Storage service, such as S3, GCS, or Azure keys
  • Database credentials
  • Tokens and keys for any third-party service the application calls

Changing secret_key_base expires active sessions and requires users to log in again. Encrypted
cookies, signed cookies, signed global IDs, and Active Storage URLs are also affected.

Rotation should only be used as an intermediate step if necessary. Do not retain an exposed secret
as a fallback.

Workarounds

If libvips < 8.13 is being used, there are no workarounds available other than removing the
dependency on libvips from the application. Some applications may have ruby-vips declared as a
dependency only for image analysis, and those applications may be able to simply remove ruby-vips
from the Gemfile to remove libvips from the application. Applications that do not use Active Storage
can remove ruby-vips from the Gemfile to avoid the boot-time checks.

If libvips >= 8.13 is present on the system, applications can disable the unfuzzed operations
without upgrading Rails by setting the VIPS_BLOCK_UNTRUSTED environment variable, which libvips
reads while initializing.

Applications also running ruby-vips >= 2.2.1 or later can instead call
Vips.block_untrusted(true) from an initializer.

Releases

The fixed releases are available at the normal locations.

Versions affected

  • activestorage < 7.2.3.2
  • activestorage >= 8.0, < 8.0.5.1
  • activestorage >= 8.1, < 8.1.3.1

Disclosure

Technical details of the attack chain are intentionally omitted from this advisory. They would add
nothing to an administrator's decision to upgrade, while making it substantially easier to attack
applications that have not yet done so.

Details will be disclosed no later than 2026-08-28, via the Rails Security
Announcements forum.

Credit

This issue was responsibly reported by 0xacb, s3np41k1r1t0 and castilho from Ethiack, and RyotaK from GMO Flatt Security Inc..

References

References

@byroot byroot published to rails/rails Jul 29, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 30, 2026
Reviewed Jul 30, 2026
Last updated Jul 30, 2026

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements Present
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(76th percentile)

Weaknesses

Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default

The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-66066

GHSA ID

GHSA-xr9x-r78c-5hrm

Source code

Credits

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